Sideways Sammy

If there had been any fear about the scale of Coventry City’s ambitions this summer, beating just about every Championship club to the signature of Ellis Simms goes some way to casting that aside. After a stand-out loan spell with Sunderland during the first half of last season, Simms showed in the latter end of the campaign back at his parent club of Everton that he had something to offer at Premier League level. At 22 years old, there is plenty of improvement left in Simms and he’s now in at a club for the first time in his career where he will be expected to be the leading man in attack.

Signed just before the likely departure of Viktor Gyokeres, it should be apparent to all and sundry that Ellis Simms will be the man expected to take up the majority of the Swede’s mantle. It is an unenviable task as Gyokeres is not only the best Coventry City striker since Dion Dublin, but is someone who was a constant threat in games who the team knew would create chances just by giving him the ball in any area and in any situation. Simms is a different kind of striker, despite having a similar physical statute to Gyokeres and being a touch quicker, while he can use his physical attributes to good effect, he is someone who does his best work bursting off the shoulders of defenders, as well as in the penalty area. Simms will require players around him to help get him into threatening areas, which is going to require the team to adapt their style from what they have grown accustomed to with Viktor Gyokeres.

While Ellis Simms is only 22, the club have paid one of the biggest fees for a single player since relegation from the Premier League to bring him to Coventry City. That alone is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a young player who has yet to be a leading man in attack for a team over the course of a full campaign, before it’s even addressed that he will be replacing one of the club’s best strikers in a few generations. While Simms has the talent to step up to a leading role in the Championship, it will be up to Mark Robins to create a playing style that will maximise the player’s ability. This is a significant transfer for the club, but it is just one piece in the puzzle of the wider rebuild the Sky Blues are looking to conduct this summer.